How to Get a Teaching Job

by Moffatt, Courtney W.; Moffatt, Thomas L.

• ISBN13: 9780205299249
• ISBN10: 0205299245
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-11-01
• Publisher: Pearson P T R

Summary

How to look for a job, how to present your qualifications to fill it, and what to do if all else fails.

• Contains questions at the beginning of each chapter that allow the reader to find and read only the sections that interest them.
• Important points and tips are highlighted in a box format in each chapter for an easy review or memory refresher.
• Anecdotal stories at the beginning of each chapter let the reader see how the concepts can relate to a professional individual searching for a job.
• Questions for review located in various places throughout help the reader to remember points of importance.

How to Get a Teaching Job is designed to take the mystery out of the job search and replace it with knowledge and confidence. It explains not only where to look for a teaching job, but how to look for a job, how to identify it once you've found it, how to present your qualifications to fill it, and what to do if all else fails. The book is directed at helping individuals in education and other fields find a match between their skills and abilities and the needs and assets of a school or school district. The authors developed this book having discovered that after presenting numerous job seminars, advising students and talking to teachers, principals and superintendents, that individuals interested in the field of education often have very little understanding of the intricacies of finding the right job. This book investigates the great mysteries of the job market, and what goes on behind the closed doors of an interview. The book explains that there are a number of ways job applicants can prepare for the interview process. These include knowing how the interview and how the employment process works in various schools and school districts, how to best assess their own qualifications and desires, and how to present their assets to the interviewer honestly and confidently.

Courtney W. Moffatt is a professor at Edgewood College.

Thomas L. Moffatt is President of Management Dynamics, Inc.

Author Biography

Thomas L. Moffatt teaches part time and has been president of Management Dynamics for thirty years.

Table of Contents

Preface and Acknowledgments	xi
About the Authors	xiii
Is Teaching Really for Me?	1	(24)
How to Use Inventories for Self-Appraisal	3	(7)
Strong Interest Inventory	3	(3)
Teacher Themes	6	(4)
Where Is My Niche?	10	(4)
Review of the Teaching Profession	10	(4)
What Would I Need to Do to Be Able to Teach?	14	(4)
What If My Bachelor's Degree Is Not in Teaching?	17	(1)
Help, I Don't Have Any Teaching Experience!	18	(7)
The Parent Returns to Work	18	(1)
The Recent Graduate	19	(2)
Changing Careers	21	(4)
Starting the Search	25	(20)
Start Early	27	(1)
Get Around and Be Known	27	(1)
What Are Schools Looking For?	27	(14)
Characteristics That School Systems Value	29	(1)
Self-Appraisal	30	(4)
Chart Your Experience and Characteristics	34	(3)
What Do I Have/What Do I Need?	37	(3)
Checklist for Teachers	40	(1)
Packaging Your Military Experience for a Position in Education	41	(4)
So What's the Problem?	41	(4)
Your Resume, or Why I Can Teach	45	(22)
The General-Purpose Resume	46	(10)
The Job-Specific Resume	56	(4)
The Skill-Specific Resume	60	(2)
The Alternate Resume	62	(5)
The Initial Contact: Where to Look	67	(20)
Vacancy Listings	69	(4)
Web Sites	70	(3)
Employment Agencies	73	(2)
Private Agencies	74	(1)
College Placement Offices	75	(1)
Conferences, Conventions, and Job Fairs	76	(1)
Personal Contacts	77	(1)
The Blind Contact	78	(1)
Asking for an Interview	78	(6)
By Mail	80	(2)
By Phone	82	(1)
The Do-It-Yourself Contact	83	(1)
The Agency Contact	84	(1)
Job-Search Organization	84	(3)
Presenting Yourself, or I'm the Answer to Your Prayers	87	(20)
Understanding the School District's Needs	90	(3)
What the School System Is Looking For in a Candidate	93	(3)
Knowing the School District	96	(4)
School Information Guidelines	98	(2)
Looking and Acting Like a Professional Educator	100	(3)
Dressing and Grooming	100	(1)
Mental Attitude	101	(2)
Developing a Useful Portfolio	103	(4)
Two Basic Purposes of Portfolios for Educators	103	(1)
Building Your Portfolio for Presentation	104	(1)
What a Portfolio Should Contain	104	(1)
How Will the Portfolio Be Used?	104	(3)
Interviewing Strategies and Systems	107	(36)
The Interview Profile	112	(3)
The Various Purposes of Interviews	115	(2)
The Screening Interview	115	(1)
The Depth Interview	115	(1)
The Hiring-Decision Interview	116	(1)
Communication in the Interview	117	(6)
Barriers to the Flow of Communication	118	(1)
Verbal Communication	119	(2)
Nonverbal Communication	121	(2)
The Cone System of Interviewing	123	(6)
The Subject of Cones	123	(3)
Probing for Depth Information	126	(2)
Swinging with the System	128	(1)
Varied Approaches to Interviewing	129	(3)
The Application Reader	129	(1)
The Super Salesperson	130	(1)
The Amateur Psychologist	131	(1)
The Multiperson Interview	132	(1)
Is the Interviewer Interested?	132	(1)
Frequently Asked Questions	133	(10)
The Law and the Interview, or I Know My Rights Well	143	(14)
What the Employer Can Demand	145	(4)
Discrimination on the Basis of Sex	145	(2)
Discrimination on the Basis of Race, Color, or National Origin	147	(1)
Discrimination on the Basis of Age	148	(1)
Discrimination against Individuals with Disabilities	148	(1)
Discrimination for Various Other Reasons	149	(1)
Handling Possible Discrimination	149	(8)
Beating the Interviewer to the Punch	149	(2)
Handling Sensitive Issues in the Interview	151	(1)
Filing Discrimination Complaints	152	(5)
Stress and the Job Hunt, or We Can Overcome	157	(12)
Relieving Pressure during the Search	160	(6)
Stress	160	(2)
Overcoming Inertia	162	(1)
Handling Guilt and Inferiority	163	(1)
Remaining Flexible	164	(1)
Adopting an Optimistic Outlook	165	(1)
Seeking Creative Solutions	165	(1)
Coping with Rejections	166	(3)
Why Teachers Are Turned Down	166	(1)
Viewing Rejection as a Learning Experience	167	(1)
The Chances for Reconsideration	168	(1)
Reevaluating and Continuing the Search	168	(1)
Bibliography	169	(2)
Index	171